Q&A with Brian Vickers

Brian Vickers, who drives the No. 20 Dollar General Toyota, will be one of four drivers competing for $100,000 in the Nationwide Dash 4 the Cash.

BRIAN LINDERSTAFF WRITER

Brian Vickers has extra incentive when it comes to Friday's Subway Firecracker 250 at Daytona International Speedway.

Vickers, who drives the No. 20 Dollar General Toyota, will be one of four drivers along with Elliott Sadler, Austin Dillon and Kyle Larson, competing for $100,000 in the Nationwide Dash 4 Cash. The top finishing driver of the quartet in Friday's race takes the money.

Vickers — currently eighth in the Nationwide standings — was at Daytona International Speedway on Wednesday to talk about the Dash 4 Cash with the media. Below is a look at a few of the questions he was asked and his answers.

Are you thinking Dash 4 Cash over win or a combination of both?

Vickers: The reality is winning the race and running for the championship is our priority. This is amazing what Nationwide is doing with Dash 4 Cash and it adds a whole new dynamic to the race, but it doesn't mean we should just throw out long-term thinking and forget about points or a championship. When it comes down to the end, we may or may not race for that. I mean, we are all going to be racing for it, but whether we are going to put ourselves in position to lose 10 spots or 15 spots just to gain a shot at that is probably unlikely. Daytona is just a different race. How this race plays out, being in a big pack, and on top of that being in a tandem draft and Elliott (Sadler) and I being together is definitely a different situation. Hopefully, at the end of the day, we are in a position to even race for it period. Nothing would make me and Elliott happier than if we were tandem drafting to the end, the rest of the pack was 10 car lengths behind us and we had to figure it out from there.

Talk a little about the history of Daytona and what makes it special.

Vickers: It's the history here obviously is always a factor and knowing this is one of the biggest races. There is something about the energy level when you come through that tunnel, and it has always been that way since the first time I came here and tested. You just know it is Daytona. Anytime you are part of a race, running 200 miles per hour, three-wide, there is just something about that energy that is unique and special. Knowing where you are at, who has won here, how long this race has been going on and how this is kind of the birthplace for the sport — all of that factors in and makes this a special place for the drivers.

How do you feel about the way you are running coming into this race? Vickers: I think we are running good. We have had good performance all year. We just haven't had the finishes to show it unfortunately. Whether it be mistakes or some engine failures, crashes, pit stops, I think we have always performed as a top-five or top-three car. But, just unfortunately, we haven't had all (top) finishes. There for about three or four weeks we had some pit-stop issues, missed wheel changes, engines that put us behind. But, all-in-all, I think we have had good performance. We are fast, and that is what keeps us going every week. We always want to be better. We need to be better each week to take that next step.

The race in February was crazy. What are your expectations for this race?

Vickers: I'm sure it is going to be wild. But I definitely don't expect what happened to happen again. I certainly hope not. That was an unfortunate situation, and I'm just glad that no one was killed. It's unfortunate that some people got hurt. It was, unfortunately, a perfect storm with everything hitting at the wrong place at the wrong time. That is just kind of how it all happened. But, you know, listen, it's Daytona. It's going to be a wild race. It's going to be exciting, and nothing would make me happier than to come to the finish line, three or four wide, and all going straight. No one upside down. No one backwards. But usually it is hard to make that happen. It is the race. We know what it is. We know what can happen. We hope that we are not a part of it, and we hope it does not happen at all. But my focus is to be in front of whatever does happen and to be in the lead and cross the finish line.